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For years, crypto and fintech companies in the United States have had to operate within a highly fragmented regulatory system. A company that wants to provide digital-asset services nationwide may neeFor years, crypto and fintech companies in the United States have had to operate within a highly fragmented regulatory system. A company that wants to provide digital-asset services nationwide may nee

Jack Dorsey’s Block Wants to Launch a Bank for Bitcoin and Stablecoins: Is Crypto Moving Deeper Into the U.S. Banking System?

#Industry Perspectives

BANK$0.02853-2.89%

NOT$0.0004294-0.09%

BUILD$0.00149+2.97%

Author: Nguyen Rin Hoang

2026/09/11 13:12

For years, crypto and fintech companies in the United States have had to operate within a highly fragmented regulatory system. A company that wants to provide digital-asset services nationwide may need to maintain numerous different licenses across individual states, while traditional banks operate under clearer federal regulatory frameworks.

Jack Dorsey’s Block wants to change that structure.

On September 8, 2026, Block filed an application with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to establish Builders Bank & Trust, N.A., a non-deposit-taking national trust bank. If approved, Builders Bank would provide custody and fiduciary services, including services related to Bitcoin and stablecoins, under direct OCC supervision.

What is notable is that Block is not trying to turn Builders Bank into another JPMorgan or Bank of America.

The bank would:

not offer traditional checking accounts

not accept deposits

not provide loans

not operate like a conventional retail bank.

Its primary objective is to build a regulated custody layer for digital assets.

This is an important distinction.

Block is not using crypto to build a traditional bank.

The company is trying to bring Bitcoin and stablecoin infrastructure inside the U.S. federal banking system.

If approved by the OCC, the move could become a notable step in crypto’s transition from an industry operating at the edges of the financial system into an infrastructure layer increasingly integrated directly into the banking system.

Key Takeaways

Block has filed an application with the OCC to establish Builders Bank & Trust.

This is still an application Builders Bank has not yet been authorized to operate.

Builders Bank would focus on Bitcoin and stablecoin custody and fiduciary services.

The bank would not accept deposits or provide loans.

A national trust charter could allow Block to operate under a more consistent federal supervisory framework.

Block already owns Square Financial Services, an FDIC-insured industrial bank; Builders Bank would serve a different purpose focused on custody.

Block’s move is part of a broader trend in which digital-asset companies are seeking national trust bank charters.

The biggest significance is not that Block is “becoming a bank,” but that Bitcoin and stablecoin custody are increasingly being integrated into mainstream U.S. banking infrastructure.

Why Does Block Need Builders Bank When It Already Has a Bank?

This is probably the most important question.

Block already has Square Financial Services (SFS).

SFS is an FDIC-insured industrial bank and provides products that more closely resemble traditional banking activities:

Square Loans

→ business lending.

Cash App Borrow

→ short-term consumer loans.

Square Savings

→ savings accounts for businesses.

So why does Block need Builders Bank?

Because the two institutions serve two different layers of finance.

Square Financial Services focuses on:

USD + Deposits + Credit

while Builders Bank would focus on:

Digital Assets + Custody + Fiduciary Infrastructure.

Block’s future structure could be visualized as:

Block

↓

Square Financial Services

→ lending → savings → traditional banking products

and:

Builders Bank & Trust

→ Bitcoin custody → stablecoin custody → digital-asset fiduciary services.

If this strategy succeeds, Block would have both:

traditional banking rails

and:

digital-asset banking rails.

This is a logical move for a company that owns both Square and Cash App and has long built products around Bitcoin.

But the second reason may be even more important: regulatory scalability.

Block explicitly said the new charter would create a:

“consistent national framework”

for custody and related activities the company currently provides.

A digital-asset company operating across the United States often has to manage a complicated regulatory stack:

State A → License A

State B → License B

State C → License C

...

Each state may have:

different requirements

different reporting

different capital rules

different compliance processes.

As scale increases, legal and operational costs increase as well.

A national trust bank creates another path:

OCC

↓

Federal Charter

↓

National Framework

↓

Digital Asset Custody.

That does not mean Block would become exempt from every state law or every other regulation.

But it would create a clearer federal banking framework for activities falling within the charter’s scope.

This may be the greatest strategic value of Builders Bank.

Block Does Not Want to Build a Traditional Bank — and That Is Exactly What Makes It Interesting

The name Builders Bank & Trust may easily make readers think Jack Dorsey wants to launch a new bank that competes directly with JPMorgan.

The reality is very different.

Block describes Builders Bank as:

uninsured

non-deposit-taking

national trust bank.

That means the model is not:

Customer deposits USD

↓

Bank uses deposits

↓

Bank makes loans

↓

Earns interest spread.

Builders Bank would be closer to:

Customer assets

↓

Custody / Fiduciary management

↓

Fees / related services.

This is especially suitable for digital assets.

In crypto, one of the most important issues is not credit creation.

It is:

Who holds the private keys?

Who protects the assets?

Who is responsible if the custody system fails?

What infrastructure can institutional investors trust?

For an individual, self-custody may be an option.

But for an institution managing hundreds of millions or billions of dollars in assets:

a seed phrase in a safe

is not a sufficiently complete institutional custody framework.

Institutions need:

Governance

Access controls

Audit trails

Compliance

Operational resilience

Regulatory supervision.

That is exactly the market Builders Bank wants to enter.

A national trust bank charter therefore does not make Bitcoin “like a bank deposit.”

It creates a regulated institution that can stand between customers and digital assets.

This is also why the fact that Builders Bank would not accept deposits is not a strange limitation.

It reflects the bank’s intended purpose.

Block does not need a balance sheet that collects deposits and lends them out.

It needs a regulated entity to:

custody assets

and:

perform fiduciary responsibilities.

There is another notable consequence.

If Builders Bank is approved, Block could separate two types of risk relatively clearly.

Credit risk

→ Square Financial Services.

Digital asset custody risk

→ Builders Bank.

From an organizational design perspective, this could be a cleaner way to build financial infrastructure.

Bitcoin and Stablecoins Are Moving Deeper Into the Banking System

Builders Bank is not an isolated case.

The OCC has become one of the most important institutions in the process of digital-asset companies seeking federal banking status.

In late 2025, the OCC granted conditional approvals related to national trust bank charters for a number of digital-asset companies, including Ripple, BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets, and Paxos.

In 2026, the list of digital-asset licensing applications continued to expand. The OCC now maintains a dedicated list of applications from companies expected to provide crypto or digital-asset services.

This suggests a structural shift.

During crypto’s early development, the logic was often:

Crypto system

vs.

Banking system.

The two worlds were often viewed as almost opposites.

But the model is gradually becoming:

Crypto infrastructure

Banking regulation

Traditional capital markets.

Bitcoin custody is one example.

Stablecoins make the convergence even clearer.

Stablecoins are increasingly being used as:

payment rails

settlement assets

cross-border infrastructure

and:

on-chain dollars.

As stablecoins reach greater scale, questions once considered purely crypto issues become banking questions:

Who custodies the reserves?

Who custodies the stablecoins?

Who performs settlement?

How do AML/KYC systems operate?

Who is supervised by regulators?

The United States has also built a more specific regulatory framework for payment stablecoins through the GENIUS Act, while the OCC continues developing requirements related to AML, customer identification, and stablecoin institutions.

Builders Bank sits directly at the center of this convergence.

Block is not inventing a new blockchain.

The company is building infrastructure so that existing assets can be custodied and managed inside a regulated financial institution.

If successful, the architecture could look like:

Bitcoin / Stablecoin

↓

Builders Bank

↓

OCC supervision

↓

Block ecosystem

↓

Cash App / Square / Institutional Customers.

Block has not stated that all of these products will definitely operate under this exact structure, but strategically, the potential integration between banking, payments, and digital assets is what makes the application notable.

With stablecoins in particular, Block has an advantage that many crypto custodians do not have:

distribution.

Square connects with merchants.

Cash App connects with consumers.

Block has payments infrastructure.

If digital assets eventually become a larger part of the payment system, a custody bank could function as the infrastructure behind the scenes rather than as a standalone product.

What Could Builders Bank Bring to Block — and Where Are the Risks?

From Block’s perspective, there are at least three potential benefits.

The first is regulatory consolidation.

A federal framework could help the company expand digital-asset custody under a clearer structure than relying only on a regulatory patchwork across multiple states.

The second is institutional credibility.

For a large institution, there is a difference between:

a crypto company holding assets

and:

an OCC-supervised national trust bank holding assets.

That does not guarantee that a security failure can never occur.

But it adds:

regulatory examinations

governance requirements

capital expectations

compliance obligations

and:

fiduciary duties.

The third is strategic optionality.

Once Block has regulated digital-asset custody infrastructure, the company could build additional services on top of custody within the limits of applicable laws and the charter.

Custody is often the foundational layer.

After that may come:

settlement

asset management

institutional services

and other financial workflows.

But there are also notable risks.

First, the OCC has not yet approved the application.

Builders Bank does not currently exist as an operating national trust bank. Block has made clear that the institution will not begin operations until it receives the necessary regulatory approvals.

Second is custody risk.

A federally supervised bank still has to protect:

private keys

signing infrastructure

access controls

internal systems

against both external attacks and operational errors.

With Bitcoin, transactions are generally irreversible.

Therefore:

Bank Charter ≠ Cryptographic Immunity.

Regulation helps manage risk.

It does not eliminate risk.

Third is competition.

Block is not entering an empty market.

The OCC has approved or is considering multiple other digital-asset institutions. Coinbase National Trust Company has also appeared in charter decisions in 2026, alongside institutions such as Ripple, Fidelity Digital Assets, BitGo, and Paxos from earlier rounds.

The competition could therefore gradually shift from:

“Who has the largest crypto exchange?”

to:

“Who can build the best regulated digital-asset financial infrastructure?”

Block has a significant advantage:

Cash App + Square + Banking + Bitcoin infrastructure

already exist within the same ecosystem.

Builders Bank could become the layer connecting those pieces.

Conclusion

Block’s application to establish Builders Bank & Trust is not simply about Jack Dorsey wanting to launch another bank.

In reality, Block already has Square Financial Services for lending and certain traditional banking activities.

Builders Bank serves a different strategy.

It focuses on:

Bitcoin

Stablecoins

Custody

Federal Banking Supervision.

The important part is the combination of these elements.

During crypto’s early years, part of the narrative revolved around:

removing banks from the system.

But institutional adoption is now creating a different direction:

bringing crypto infrastructure inside the banking system itself.

Builders Bank is a clear example.

It is not:

Bitcoin becoming a bank deposit.

It is:

a federally regulated bank potentially becoming a custodian of Bitcoin.

It is not:

stablecoins completely replacing the banking system.

It is:

stablecoin infrastructure beginning to be operated by institutions inside the banking framework.

If the OCC approves the application, Block could own a distinctive structure:

Square Financial Services

→ traditional banking & lending.

Builders Bank

→ digital asset custody.

Square

→ merchant payments.

Cash App

→ consumer distribution.

All within one ecosystem.

This may be why Builders Bank is more notable than the banking charter itself.

Block is gradually building a financial stack spanning:

Consumers

↓

Merchants

↓

Payments

↓

Banking

↓

Bitcoin & Stablecoin Custody.

And the broader trend is becoming increasingly clear.

The OCC has approved or is considering an increasing number of national trust banks connected to digital assets.

That suggests the central question for crypto in the United States is gradually changing.

Previously:

“Will banks accept crypto?”

Now the question may become:

“Who will become the bank of the crypto economy?”

Block wants to be one of the answers.

FAQ

Has Builders Bank Been Approved by the OCC?

No. Block has only submitted an application, and the bank can begin operating only after receiving the necessary approvals.

Will Builders Bank Accept USD Deposits?

No. It is a non-deposit-taking national trust bank and will not provide loans.

What Will Builders Bank Do With Bitcoin and Stablecoins?

If approved, the bank is expected to provide custody and fiduciary services related to Bitcoin and stablecoins.

Does Block Already Have a Bank?

Yes. Square Financial Services is Block’s FDIC-insured industrial bank and provides lending and savings products.

Why Is This Application Important?

Because it shows that Bitcoin and stablecoin custody are moving from specialized crypto services toward activities increasingly integrated directly into U.S. federal banking infrastructure.

Disclaimer: The information provided here is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial, investment, legal, or professional advice. Always conduct your own research, consider your financial situation, and, if necessary, consult with a licensed professional before making any decisions.

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